New So Delicious Coconut Yogurts!

It's about to real yogurt-y up in here. Or should I say, we're about to get cultured. Yea, that sounds smarter. Anyway, So Delicious sent me samples of their new yogurts to review, and another vegan yogurt company also sent me some review samples. So I'll tackle So Delicious this week — today and tomorrow — and, later this month, expect even more yogurt reviews and recipes!

So Delicious coconut yogurt has been around for years, but they have a new formula that's carrageenan-free and made with organic coconuts. Of course, they're still soy-free and gluten-free. Plus, there's adorable new packaging. Any time you add hearts to a design, it instantly becomes better.

In case you're not familiar, carrageenan is extracted from seaweed, and it's often used as a thickener in natural food products. But there's been some recent concern because some studies have linked it with GI issues and inflammation. As an ethical vegan, I'm not really one to worry much about stuff like that. But plenty of folks are vegan for health reasons, and it's good to make products that satisfies their needs too. These new yogurts do just that.

I'm a huge fan of yogurt parfaits, so I tried the vanilla one first in a parfait with chopped nectarine and hemp & greens granola (from the Whole Foods bulk bin). I couldn't tell much difference in taste in this new formula compared with the old formula, which I certainly have eaten my fair share of. There's a subtle hint of coconut, a creamy-ish texture (but a slight chunkiness), and just the right level of tartness. Like all sweetened vegan yogurts, the So Delicious ones are quite sweet. But I prefer that in a fruity yogurt. 

Next, I had the strawberry banana with fresh strawberries, bananas, and more hemp & greens granola. This one was my fave, probably because I just love banana. The strawberry and banana flavors outshone the coconut more than in the vanilla flavor. 

I decided to save myself from having to wash an extra bowl one morning with this raspberry yogurt, eaten straight from the carton. Since raspberries go great with chocolate, I topped this with cocoa-flavored coconut chips and carob chips. I believe the raspberry yogurt was the smoothest of the three. While the texture of the yogurts is creamy, you can see a little separation, probably because of the coconut fat. But I didn't notice that as much with this one.

The strawberry was excellent! Sweet, tart, berry-ful, and it had little bits of berry chunks mixed in. I enjoyed it with fresh berries and a package of Cocoa Coconut Larabar Renola Fruit, Nut, & Seed Mix (almonds, sunflower seeds, coconut).

Even though I'm not terribly concerned about consuming carrageenan, I'm glad So Delicious omitted that ingredient from their yogurts. As a vegan, I know how happy it makes me when a non-vegan company takes animal by-products out of their products (remember when that happened with Skittles?! That was the best!). So I can imagine it's super-awesome when a company removes ingredients that you can't eat for health reasons. 

So Delicious also sent me two of their unsweetened yogurts to try, but I'll be reviewing those tomorrow. And posting recipes!